I resigned Because.......
Or you could say that Patrick McGoohan resigned because.....
"I'm fed up with the character of John Drake. and that of Danger Man. The scripts for Danger Man have long since become thin, and in one guise or another, repetitive. Its time to produce a series of my own the Prisoner."
Patrick McGoohan
{Tis is of course pure fiction. yet there are certain sentiments of Patrick McGoohan which lie behind it.}
I Resigned Because........
Well a number of years ago I wrote what I thought the Prisoners letter of resignation might contain.
"Colonel, the time has arrived for me to hand in my resignation which I hope you will accept with grace. My reasons for such an action are quite simple really. For along time I have been disillusioned with my job and the kind of work I have been required to do, and with a number of my immediate superiors.
I have travelled the globe in line with my work, and my job has become increasingly dangerous. I have spent years living and surviving by my wits and I have become tired of it. I have risked my life on numerous occasions with little thanks, and little pay in my pocket!
The job gets dirtier and dirtier, and I feel that I have been used from time to time by others in order to achieve their own ends. By this I mean generally clearing up other people's mess, and I'm sick of it all.
Now you can get someone else to do your spying, and cleaning up other people's mess. I resign forthwith and want nothing more to do with you or the department."
John Drake
Nothing to do with 'the Prisoner,' no. This film starts with the funeral of a small child. The date of the headstone establishes the date as being 1897. The village is is set outside Philadelphia Pennsylvania
As the story progresses, we learn that the villagers live in fear of nameless creatures in the woods which surround the village. The villagers have built a barrier of oil lanterns and watch towers that are constantly manned to keep watch for those we do not speak of. It is explained that the villagers have a long standing truce with these creatures. They do not go into the woods, and the creatures do not enter the village.
But, is everything about the village, really as it first appears?
Be seeing you
The film is intruiging the very first time you watch it, however it's hardly more than a Twilight Zone episode as it is repetitive regarding Night Shyamalans whole work. But on reading the Wikipedia entries one striking aspect surfaces that I wasn't aware of, I admit.
ReplyDeleteQuote: "During this time, it is revealed that the village was founded some time in the late 1970s, when Edward Walker, professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania, approached other people he met at a grief counseling clinic after his father had been murdered. He asked them if they wished to join him in "an idea" he had. From this apparently grew "the village," a secluded town in the middle of a wildlife preserve purchased with Edward's family fortune; a place where they would be protected from any aspect of the outside world and sustain themselves."
What does it remind us of? Right! Bill Gallagher, Ian McKellen, 2, M2... It's less McGoohan's Prisoner than it is AMC's Prisoner. - BCNU!
Hello Arno,
DeleteA fair enough comment I feel. I did enjoy the film, and it simply put me in mind of the Village in isolation from the rest of the world, which is how the Village in McGoohan's 'Prisoner' series can be described. As for the Village in Bill Gallagher's Pris6ner, well that physically does not exist!
Very kind regards
David
BCNU
It's the purported origin of this village, a refuge for "damaged" people, and the character of its originator, an idealist trying to create a world of his own, that struck me. Physical or mental, this is what's most interesting. McGoohan's isolated community most likely is real factual one, I also would take that for granted. A considerable amount of allegory not withstanding. - BCNU!
ReplyDeleteHello Arno,
DeleteI agree with you, physical or mental, the Village is a fascinating subject. And I can see what Two was trying to do, make people better, make a better world, even though he was doing it without people's knowledge. But even for Two, the Village bacame too much, and so he craved escape!
There was a time when I needed escape, I escaped to the Italianate Village of Portmeirion. There I became myself, and from the peaceful atmosphere of the Village, I gained peace of mind. This was of course before I met my wife, in the Village of all places.
As for the allegory, I like to keep it in a box in the corner of the room.
But there is a similarity between McGoohan's physical Village, and that of the subconciously created Village in the mind. The fact that in both Villages, those born in the Village, have no idea, or experience of the world beyond the Village!
Kind regards
David
BCNU